Within the area of Dermatology, a need for a very safe, easy to use, energy efficient skin warmer exists. Applicant has created devices, among others, such as an elastic wire configuration (U.S. Pat. No. 6,735,481) and a garment for enclosing a body part using a RF diathermy coil (U.S. Pat. No. 6,094,599). These inventions solved existing problems relating to wound healing and stimulation of injuries to enhance healing, for example only, but are not suitable as disclosed for use in this area of Dermatology where the body part can not be wrapped or the use is for multiple and or extremely sensitive areas.
With this as background, Applicant has determined that what is needed is a device that is easy to operate with a high degree of nearly instantaneous ability to control the level of heating applied to the skin. Further, it is required that the device be able to produce a high degree of skin warming while minimizing the possibility of injurious burns. Further, it is a particular need for a warming device that can be safely used to provide gentle warming for facial areas.
It, therefore, is an object of this invention to provide a surface warming device for the application of controlled heating to selected areas. It is a further object of the invention to provide an easy to use, efficient and safe warming device. It is a still further object to provide a device that produces a high degree of skin warming safely and in a controlled manner and that may be safely used on sensitive areas of the body, including, but not limited to the face.